Strus’ halfcourt prayer answered as Cavs stun Mavs

A mind-blowing, 58-foot buzzer-beater out of the hands of Max Strus proved the difference as the Cavaliers took down the Dallas Mavericks 121-119 in Cleveland.

Strus (21 pts, 7/10 3P) almost single-handedly spurred the Cavaliers to a lead late in the fourth after they trailed by double-digits with under four minutes to play.

Strus hit back-to-back threes within the space of six seconds after a Mavericks inbound mistake reminiscent of the Norris Cole-Hassan Whiteside clip that has done the rounds on social media over the past decade.

The next two Cavalier possessions also ended in Strus threes as his points total shot up from six to 18 in the space of 61 seconds.

A pair of late Donovan Mitchell triples pushed the Cavaliers ahead before a botched inbounds pass laid the platform for what appeared to be a game winning P.J. Washington bucket with less than three seconds to play.

With Mitchell off the court and no timeouts remaining, Strus inbounded the ball, got it back, and launched a near 60-foot heave that splashed through in absurd fashion to seal an unlikely Cavs win.

He was mobbed by teammates before his postgame interview turned into a water-show as the Cleveland faithful serenaded him with cheers.

Mitchell (31 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast, 7/11 3P) was also terrific whilst Jarrett Allen (19 pts, 9 reb, 7/9 FG) and Evan Mobley (12 pts, 9 reb, 7 ast) provided handy support.

Cleveland built up a 15-point lead in the first half which evaporated completely by the fourth quarter as they looked destined to go on and lose.

They ended up winning the rebounding and finishing +12 in the assists column whilst shooting 44 of 83 from the field (53.0%) and 20 of 40 from three (50.0%).

For Dallas, Luka Dončić (45 pts, 9 reb, 14 ast) was at his destructive best whilst Kyrie Irving (30 pts, 12/24 FG) was also valuable.

Dončić is now the only player in league history with multiple games of 45+ points, 9+ rebounds, and 14+ assists.

The Mavericks are in Toronto tomorrow for the second night of a back-to-back whilst the Cavaliers take on Bulls.

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